At this year’s Shanghai Bauma, Forlander Tire discovered a new and meaningful scene from the tires used by mining truck OEMs, which has never been seen in previous exhibitions. It is very gratifying and worth talking about. That is, the three 100-ton electric wheel mining trucks that attracted countless eyes on the scene, representing the new quality productivity of the mining area. Although they came from three different OEMs, the giant mining tires they were equipped with were all Chinese brands, from Sailun Meichi, Haian Lu’an and Zhongce Tianli, and foreign brands were hard to find.
China’s mining truck tires market
It can be seen that the current domestic mining tire market, the market structure has been initially formed, the head brands are in a three-legged tripod, supporting half of the domestic brands. In the past two years, big brands such as Michelin, Goodyear and Bridgestone have abandoned the domestic commercial vehicle tire market, and they are even more unable to cope with the fiercely competitive giant all-steel tire market. Their former dominant position has been shaken, and their brilliant performance is no longer continued, and it has come to an abrupt end.
The future of OTR tires in 2029
The latest institutional research shows that in five years, the sales volume of off-road tires will exceed 318.7 billion, an increase of nearly 70 billion yuan from this year.
In 2024, Smithers Group, a world-renowned technology research company, released a new research report titled “The Future of Engineering Tires in 2029”, which aims to predict the development of the off-road tire market in the next five years. The study shows that the global off-road (OTR) tire market is estimated to be worth US$34.4 billion (RMB 250.3 billion) in 2024 and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4.9% to US$43.8 billion (RMB 318.7 billion) by 2029.
OTR Tires segment performance increases after 2025
This is very similar to the predictions of tire manufacturers famous for off-road tire products before September this year. At that time, many tire manufacturers said that with the release of the results of the US election and the gradual calming of global geopolitical disputes, the global mining and agricultural recovery will be promoted, and the sales of off-road tires, especially agricultural and mining tires, will enter a new “climbing” incremental stage.
Earlier this year, Goodyear sold its off-road tire business to Japanese tire giant Yokohama for only US$905 million (RMB 6.586 billion). This means that Yokohama has predicted or at least “locked in” the performance increase of the off-road tire business segment after 2025.
Electric and hybrid machinery expansion
Smithers’ research report shows that the off-road tire market is transitioning to electric and hybrid machinery and equipment – lithium-ion batteries are increasingly appearing in global engineering, mining, and agricultural machinery and equipment, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, where the trend of electrification of equipment is more obvious in mining activities.
The expansion of electric and hybrid machinery and equipment has stimulated the sales of new equipment and promoted the demand for engineering tires. Smithers’ research shows that electric drive systems have appeared in some off-road tire usage scenarios. Large mining trucks, industrial forklifts and tractors have taken the lead in electrification, and the agency expects that new energy-specific tires may soon appear in the off-road tire market.
The trend of new energy is spreading to the OTR market. In addition, engineering tire technology is also moving in a more sustainable direction.
China’s mining tire market has strong growth momentum
As various national functional departments put forward new requirements for the development of green mines, mining tires will also face green and intelligent transformation.
- Forlander Tire keeps up with the policy, develops various models of mining tires, successfully transforms and meets the new peak of customer demand.
- Sailun Tire signed a strategic cooperation agreement with XCMG Group this month, and had previously reached a strategic cooperation intention with Liugong Group.
- Zhongce Rubber plans to expand production capacity in Thailand
- Techking North Stock Exchange IPO has been accepted.
In short, competition in China’s mining tire market is becoming increasingly fierce. The only way to win in the OTR tire market is to occupy a position in advance, expand scale, compare technology, and compete in service.
